indifferently adv.

late 14c., "unbiased, impartial, not preferring one to the other" (of persons), "alike, equal" (of things), from Old French indifferent "impartial" or directly from Latin indifferentem (nominative indifferens) "not differing, not particular, of no consequence, neither good nor evil," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + differens, present participle of differre "set apart" (see differ). Extended sense of "apathetic, no more inclined to one thing than to another" first recorded early 15c.; that of "neither good nor bad" is from 1530s, on notion of "neither more nor less advantageous," but since 17c. it has tended toward "rather bad."

common adverbial suffix, forming from adjectives adverbs signifying "in a manner denoted by" the adjective, Middle English, from Old English -lice, from Proto-Germanic *-liko- (cognates: Old Frisian -like, Old Saxon -liko, Dutch -lijk, Old High German -licho, German -lich, Old Norse -liga, Gothic -leiko); see -ly (1). Cognate with lich, and identical with like (adj.).

Weekley notes as "curious" that Germanic uses a word essentially meaning "body" for the adverbial formation, while Romanic uses one meaning "mind" (as in French constamment from Latin constanti mente). The modern English form emerged in late Middle English, probably from influence of Old Norse -liga.